Terri Hegland writes:

The Heath is crawling with life, especially at night. If you stand still, there will inevitably be something moving at your feet or in the tree nearby. A myriad of ecosystems house some of London’s most amazing species. The Heath Hands team offer masterclasses in how to protect ancient trees, encourage the right species to thrive, and discourage the wrong species that can wipe out a lineage.

This piece is an exciting look at one of the more unseen nocturnal mammals on Hampstead Heath. Not many people have experienced the miraculous view of bats as they come alive at night and frolic in flight.

Starting with a workshop at the Hive yard, where they host a variety of nature incentives. I learnt how to make a bat box, engineered to house these tiny stunning mammals. Wood, hammers, nails and all the exacting measurements were supplied along with Jo Maddox, to guide me through and stop me from making ghastly mistakes! It was so much fun as I chatted with other making enthusiasts, with tea and biscuits to enhance the day.

The next step to fully immersing myself in this experience was to embark on a bat walk! Taking off at dusk with Jo and Jesse we wandered into the trees. Bats use echolocation to communicate so we are each given a bat detector to hear them, zone in on their frequency and listen to the ultrasonic sounds they make, the clicks and bleeps fill the night air, it is astonishing.

As we scoured the treetops, we can see them flitting to and fro, so quickly that every photo that I attempted to take showed a blur. We wandered into the night, ending at the fishing pond where they danced and ebbed across the water. Jo followed the bats across the water with her special torch, and we gasped in awe as she captured their frenzied dance to eat any insects in their path. It was magical.

The final leg of my bat box life ended in it being placed in Whitestone Garden, where Heath Hands have made it a home for bats. This hidden garden gem is the perfect place for bats to enjoy peace and quiet, and a place to eat, being adjacent to Whitestone Pond.

Welcome to the February Belsize Society Newsletter. A pdf of this Newsletter is available also.

It was good to see so many members at this year’s carol singing in Belsize Village. We were fortunate to avoid the heavy December rain. We were once again joined by Primrose Hill Community Choir, raising over £300 for the Royal Free charity. 

Members will have noticed that the Swiss Cottage pub has been shut down. This historic site, which gives the area its name, is a part of our community that should not be lost. This Newsletter features a piece about what is happening to preserve the pub. 

Averil Nottage has contributed a piece about Belsize from 1900 to 1945. This is a taster of what she will tell us in the BelSoc Spring local history walk in April. The details of how you can book for this event using Eventbrite or by contacting us if this option is not possible all at the link. Places are limited so do sign up soon. 

There are also articles about local initiatives towards cleaner energy and Camden’s climate change policies.  A piece covers recent developments on energy performance certificates for homes. There is also an update on paper residential parking permits.

We include a piece about the craft club that produces, among other things, the decorations for letterboxes that you will have seen in the area. The article points out that the club is not only enjoyable but brings people from different backgrounds together. 

As usual at this time of year, we are getting ready for the AGM.  If you are interested in local affairs, or have administrative or IT skills, please do think about joining the Society’s Committee. We would also be grateful for any member recommendations for Traders You Can Trust, with a form online. Other local news and issues are also covered.

We hope you enjoy this Newsletter.

New Newsletter contributor, Clara Dubanchet, writes:

For the last three years, residents and visitors to Belsize Park have been able to pause in astonishment, amusement, awe, or bewilderment at the sight of peculiar hats topping the red letterbox on England’s Lane. Crowned by a cover on which are sewn various items, animals, or characters changing with the seasons or major events, it is not the only one to stand out. On Thurlow Road, another letterbox is decorated, as is the telephone box in Primrose Gardens. Who could be working behind the scenes to produce these original creations? 

The Belsize Society’s Newsletter wandered over to the Belsize Community Library to attend the Wednesday craft club from 1 to 4 p.m., which produces the designs. Near the large windows overlooking the street, tables have been assembled, taking up the entire width of the room. Women are gathered there in small groups, all busily involved in handicraft activities.

Caroline Chan, co-founder of the club, has been a long-time member of the library, teaching music classes. After 2021, a year shaken by COVID-19 and the repeated lockdowns, a suggestion was made to set up a space for creative people, made available by the library, to bring together those who, like herself, love to work with their hands. The club, which started with a trio, has grown steadily, attracting new members from the neighbourhood and extending their reach to others.  It now has around thirty participants, the majority of whom are women. 

“Talk and let your hands talk”

While the project’s origins lie in the conviviality of cakes and tea prepared by club members, the craft club has taken on a much more powerful dimension. It has become a social project where refugee communities have found a place to meet, socialize, and share their art. For the charities that have joined the club, such as Families4peace for the Ukrainians, Hopscotch for the Afghans, and Gathering Leaves for the Hongkongers, it is a means of putting their talent into practice. It gifts the Belsize community a time for cultural exchange, as much for the delicacies savoured, as for the different artistic techniques and practices introduced by the regulars each week. 

Art and craft as therapy, but not only. Who would have thought that this small neighbourhood club could be so beneficial for its members? Young retirees, busy mothers, newcomers to the hustle and bustle of London, art aficionados keen to pass on their passion, despite the language barrier: anything goes at these voluntary weekly gatherings. 

As the club continues growing, readers of the Belsize Society Newsletter, keep your eyes wide open. It is always possible to see a new project blossom, one fine morning, around the corner in Belsize Park. And for those who would like to take a look, the doors are wide open!

Local historian and BelSoc member Averil Nottage gives a taster of her forthcoming BelSoc walk

At the end of the 19^th century, Belsize aspired to be a suburb for the wealthy middle classes.  The First World War, the tube, the motor car and competition from newer suburbs all changed that, in the first half of the 20^th century.  The trend began in 1884 when a large empty house in Belsize Park Gardens was pulled down and replaced with the 20 apartments of Manor Mansions.  Then early in the 20^th century, it was accepted that it was better to split large houses into flats or boarding houses than to leave them empty. 

After WW1 these changes accelerated.  Wealthier residents drove off to more spacious suburbs and were replaced by smaller families and young people setting up first homes.  To meet their needs, many large blocks of flats were built in the 1930s in a variety of distinctive styles.  Hampstead Borough Council and ratepayers protested that there were already far too many flats in the area.  Alternatively, “homely” hotels offered food, comfort and sociability.  New Belsize residents may have been less prosperous or younger but were still expected to be “of a good class”.

Improved transport made it easy for the growing numbers of clerks working in Central London to live in Belsize.  By 1906 electric trams had replaced horses.  Belsize Park underground station opened in June 1907 as part of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, offering first, second and third-class travel.  The platforms provided shelter during the Blitz and by 1944 there were bunks for around 8000 people in extended deep tunnels.

Cinema arrived in 1913 when the Hampstead Picture Playhouse opened at the bottom of Pond Street.  In 1934 Oscar Deutsch incorporated a newly built cinema on Haverstock Hill into his Odeon chain.  It opened in September with George Robey in “Chu, Chin, Chow”, and was the chain’s flagship cinema until the Leicester Square one opened in 1937. The cinema was in a new parade of shops that extended up to the Town Hall with another new parade across the road.  Traders advertised it as one of the finest shopping centres in North West London and vowed to spare no effort to meet every demand made of them.

The Town Hall was a popular venue for talks, concerts and dances.  Both Christabel Pankhurst and Oswald Mosely held rallies there.  From 1919 until 1932 Cinderella Balls were held every Saturday night during the winter season.  In 1926 the Charleston and modified Tango were added to the dances that Jack Hutton’s Manhattan Band played.  T.S. Elliot and his first wife Vivien, and Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, were married there.

Some refugees escaped the Third Reich from 1933, but most Jewish refugees were well integrated into German life and didn’t try to leave until after the annexation of Austria and devastating consequences of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938.

They found England very strange, but for some the faded grandeur of Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage was reminiscent of the cities they’d left.  Forming a community here, they could share memories and reactions to English customs, humour and behaviour.  

The Cosmo restaurant in Finchley Road serving continental food was a favourite meeting place.  Organisations sprung up to provide advice and social contact and promote German and Austrian culture.    

As the refugees couldn’t follow anglicised services at local synagogues, they organised their own services in the German Liberale tradition.  This started in one room in a boarding house in Belsize Park, but over time became the Belsize Square Synagogue in buildings linked to the old vicarage of St Peter’s Church.

To find out more about Belsize between 1900 and 1945 join our walk on Sunday 13 April at 11.00 am  or  2.30 pm.

Welcome to the November BelSoc Newsletter.

It was great to see many of you at events over the summer. The summer party was in a lovely setting and we’re grateful to the hosts. Averil Nottage introduced us to the three architects that shaped the Belsize area in a historic walk on a dry and sometimes sunny October Sunday. We report on these two events.

This Newsletter contains an invitation to Belsize residents. You’re being asked to contribute to Camden Council’s Sustainability Team’s Strategy Room. You have to apply and be selected to sit on a “citizen’s jury”, judging the policy options available and helping Camden as they design their climate action plans. Following on from that, we also have a piece about retrofitting, covering insulation and heat pumps.

We have a review of Peter Darley’s new book that explores the Chalk Farm Railway Lands, a maze of railway lines, canals, depots, tunnels and bridges. Averil’s review also lists the seven wonders of this area.

Regal developers recently took on the development of the 100 Avenue Road site. The Newsletter includes a report of their consultation as they plan next steps.

We were pleased to host, with the Friends of the Belsize Library, a wonderful talk by Lester Hillman covering numerous weather events over the centuries. The Friends have also let us know about their events over the winter and we cover the Gathering Leaves Hong Kong Book Library, which operates from the Belsize Library.

We hope that you can join us to sing carols in Belsize Village and enjoy the Newsletter.